2023/08/22

Last timeSynopsis up to

Saki was upset when her oncologist recommended that she take anti-cancer drugs to lower the chance of recurrence. After getting a third opinion and consulting with people around her, she decided to take anti-cancer drugs. She took Xeloda (Cacipetabine), an anti-cancer drug, four tablets in the morning and evening for two weeks. After that, there was a one-week break from the drug, which counted as one cycle, and she was to take a total of eight cycles.

I would like to write about the first month or two after I started taking anti-cancer drugs. As I wrote last time, the first cycle ended without any problems. During the one-week drug-free period, I felt like my body was resting. During anti-cancer drug treatment, I went to the clinic every week for about the first month to have a blood test. They check my white blood cell count to see if my immune system has been weakened by the anti-cancer drugs, and also check my kidney and liver values. On the day I went to the clinic, I had to wait about an hour after having my blood taken, and I had to take time off work, so in a sense I was able to relax. However, when I went to the clinic, there were always a lot of patients who didn't look very energetic, and I felt a bit out of place because I looked healthy no matter how you look at it. I wondered what kind of cancer other people had, and I felt a strong urge to talk to someone every time, but I couldn't find the courage to do so. The doctor said that there were quite a lot of people with colon cancer.

Having been diagnosed with cancer at such a young age, I began to feel that what I could do was to speak out, share my experience with as many acquaintances and friends as possible, and sound the alarm for early detection of colon cancer. So, I actively talked about cancer wherever I went, including with my close friends of various nationalities in Hong Kong and the hairdresser I always go to, and strongly urged them that even if you are young and have no symptoms, you should have a colonoscopy at least once in your 30s. Thanks to this, many of my friends of the same age actually had a colonoscopy, and one 30-year-old female friend was very grateful to me, as she found three polyps. I thought that if these polyps had been left untreated for another 10 years, she might have developed cancer, so I was really glad that I encouraged her to get tested.

During the first three cycles of chemotherapy, I went on a long-awaited trip to Bali with my daughters. The school holidays were just at the end of February, so I went to Bali for the fourth time in my life. I was worried about sunburn protection, but the doctor said it was okay, so I decided to go. I actually wanted to go surfing with my older daughter, but it was less than three months since my surgery, and I still couldn't use my abdominal muscles much, so I just watched. However, we went horseback riding, shopping, and spent a fun week together as a family of three. At this time, I first felt a tingling sensation in the soles of my feet, which I thought was a side effect, but it subsided during the drug-free period. However, with each cycle, my hands became dryer and redder, and I felt like the medicine was accumulating.

And already it's Easter holidays in April. This time I decided to go back to Japan for two weeks. Before returning to Japan, I had a blood test at the clinic and the white blood cell count, which indicates immunity, was significantly below the standard value, so the doctor said that I should take it safe and get a white blood cell booster injection. If I didn't get this, I would have felt more tired during the trip and would be more susceptible to catching the flu, so I'm glad I got it. However, for some reason, this injection is not covered by insurance. It costs more than 20,000 yen in Japanese yen per injection. One cycle of chemotherapy costs about 70,000 yen. For now, it is covered by insurance, but it's so expensive... I wonder how much it would cost in Japan...

In Japan, I enjoyed cherry blossoms for the first time in nine years. However, it was colder than I expected, and I was surprised because it was colder in April than midwinter in Hong Kong. During my stay, I came into contact with a child who I later found out had the flu, but thanks to that injection, I was relieved that I didn't get infected. Since we mainly travel by car at my parents' house, the soles of my feet didn't hurt at all, even though I was on my fourth cycle of chemotherapy. Maybe the side effects were boosted by the fact that I walk a lot in Hong Kong on a regular basis. Instead, the redness of my hands, the lack of feeling in my fingertips, and the peeling of the skin got quite bad, so I wonder how many times I applied hand cream every day. I must have applied it more than 10 times. No matter how much I applied it, it felt like the skin on my hands had become waterproof and nothing was penetrating, so at night I applied castor oil, which is good for the skin, which my mother gave me, and slept with vinyl gloves on. Then, a few days before returning to Hong Kong, the area around the nails of my toes started to hurt. I never expected it to get so bad after this...

I went to the clinic as soon as I got back to Japan. The doctor checked my toes and decided to wait and see. There was one week left until cycle 5. After this, my toes got worse day by day, to the point where it hurt to walk and I couldn't even wear sneakers, so I had to go and see the doctor again.

to be continued

Saki Fukuyama

Moved from Tokyo to Hong Kong in 2012. Freelance instructor. Mother of elementary and junior high school students. Hobbies are cooking and piano.